Roy Hodgson emphasised his faith in England’s second-string centre backs last night after losing three defenders from his squad in the space of 36 hours this week.

The manager confirmed that Gary Cahill’s knee injury will not have recovered sufficiently for him to join up with England in Montenegro next week, leaving Chris Smalling as the only centre half from Hodgson’s original squad after Michael Dawson and Rio Ferdinand also withdrew on Sunday.

The remaining quartet of Joleon Lescott, Steven Caulker, Steven Taylor and Smalling have only 29 caps between them, 24 of which belong to Lescott, who was not